Formula 1 lost one of its legends as Argentinian José Froilán González passed away in Buenos Aires on Saturday. He was a contemporary and compatriot of Juan Manuel Fangio, who is still regarded by many as the best driver to have graced the circuit. José Froilán González defeated Fangio to lead Ferrari to its very first win in the championship at the 1951 British Grand Prix. The FIA combined with Ferrari to pay tribute to the legend in the 2011 British Grand Prix. His passing away, ahead of the British Grand Prix that is slated to happen at the end of this month at Silverstone, is a sad event for the sport.
The Argentinian was born in Arrecifes, North-West of Buenos Aires in 1922. He was the son of a Chevrolet dealer and was in the car sales business himself, after his retirement from the sport. He was often lovingly called the “the Pampas bull” by British fans, or “El Cabezón” (Fat head) by his colleagues, as he did not have a particularly athletic looking body, but he was adept at many sports. He was an able swimmer, a keen cyclist and a production-car road racer. His driving talents went beyond the F1 circuit as he memorably clinched a victory at the Le Mans 24-hour sportscar race for Ferrari in 1954.
He participated in about 115 races in his career, about half of which were international competitions and he came out victorious 46 times. The 1951 British Grand Prix victory was one of his many memorable F1 races, and the more famous of his two F1 victories on the same circuit. The first one came with a non-supercharged V12-engined 4.5-litre Ferrari 375 against the more efficient supercharged straight-eight cylinder Alfa Romeo 158 that Fangiso drove. He repeated the feat in 1954 with a Ferrari Tipo 625 on his way to the runners-up position on the driver’s standing. These were the highlights of his F1 career that spanned 26 Grands Prix.
Gonzalez did not have a particularly promising start to his racing career, but he turned it around with a number of Formula Libre races at the start of 1951 in Argentina. The victories in these events proved to be crucial to his career and led him to Ferrari eventually, where he won his significant 1951 victory. He joined the Maserati factory team and raced for them at the Italian Grand Prix, suffering an accident that put a temporary break to his career. He returned in 1953 to complete a season of racing and announced himself back at Ferrari the next season. His success in the 1954 season was also his virtual swansong.
He bid his final adieu to F1 racing fittingly in a Ferrari Dino 246 in the 1960 Grand Prix in Buenos Aires. He finished 10th in the race, but it was a memorable close to a significant career. The Pampas Bull was an incredible chapter in the history of Formula 1 and must be remembered when we go to the British Grand Prix this year. Ferrari owe a lot to this Argentinian driver, who was a lifelong lover of racing and Formula 1.
Ferrari have won over 200 races since his victory at Britain in 1954. He might not have had the success of Fangio but he helped the evolution of the sport in some of its most dangerous years, when drivers were prone to fatalities. The luxuries that the sport has nowadays would not have been possible without these statesmen, and it is high time that their contribution to the sport is recognized. The evolution of the sport is much like the evolution of a car – it happens piece by piece and every engine that is lost into the archives has its own precious contribution to the final car that is nothing but another stage in the larger evolution.
